Flaming Lips pimp for Hyundai without losing their dignity

Remember back in the early ’90s, when the Flaming Lips were seemingly gobbling acid by the handful while writing songs about being born on the day the world shot, in no particular order, JFK, John Lennon’s brain, and the Jesus Egg? That’s alright—nobody else does either, but do yourself a favour and click on the "video" above. The song is so fucking great, you’ll be glad you did.

Given the long-running Oklahoma oddballs’ penchant for embracing their inner weirdos, it’s totally awesome that they’ll be cashing in big time on Super Bowl Sunday. Singer Wayne Coyne and the Lips provide the original music for a 60-second Hyundai ad for the company’s Santa Fe crossover SUV that will air sometime during the game.

That commercial spots during the Super Bowl cost upwards of $7 million is a pretty good indication of how big a deal linking up with the car manufacturer is. (And don’t start with that shit about selling out. Beak off all you want about that when you’ve: a) opened Oklahoma hall gigs for Black Flag in the ’80s because you were the only band in town with a PA.; b) crisscrossed America tirelessly in a battered van during the pre-Nirvana years; c) evolved from off-kilter offerings like “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain” to wide-eyed pop wonders like “Do You Realize?”)

Apparently Hyundai liked the idea of the Flaming Lips being associated with its SUV because, according to a company spokesman, “[The Lips] are very much like Hyundai. They’re a little offbeat. They’ve been around a long time and they continue to reinvent themselves.”

The Flaming Lips note only wrote the song for the spot, which follows the adventures of a Santa Fe–owning family for a day, they also appear in the commercial. Coyne and the band start out jamming in the corner of the family’s kitchen during breakfast, and then provide the soundtrack to dad, mom, and the kids skateboarding, wrangling sabre-tooth tigers, outrunning bike gangs, and playing real-life space invaders in the park.

Over the course of the ad Coyne and company pop up on Crayola Crayon coloured boats, on the roof of the family house, and fire confetti canons from their tour bus. Watch it here. And try not to get depressed over the fact that very few of your days end up looking like this, the reason for that probably being because you don’t drive a Hyundia Santa Fe crossover SUV.